The awe-inspiring explosion proved how well Ves had spent his 35 Ascension Points.
This was no mundane explosion or hyper explosion.
This was a sacrificial ritual that ended with a potent detonation.
The fact that a Minor Demon had become part of this violent ritual made the explosions even stronger!
A Minor Demon was actually not a big deal. Ves could not have imagined how much more powerful the explosion could have been if he casted a Middle Demon into the Teragon Plasma Spear!
As it was, the D-arm may have existed for a short amount of time, but it had fulfilled its purpose in an impressive fashion.
As the lingering fireball finally began to shrink and disperse, everyone could finally observe the Unshakeable King's condition.
He was in bad shape. His raiment had clearly taken the brunt of the sacrificial ritual. Its thick layers and its other protective measures had only held out for so long before it was almost entirely blown away.
Only scorched and blackened pieces and fragments were left of what was once the thickest and arguably the most damage resistant raiments used by red humanity.
All of the hard work put into combining the strengths and advantages of mech design, infantry armor design and alien phase lord raiment design had met its end. The generous amount of phasewater used to augment the protective properties of the mid and high-grade materials had done their best to keep their wearer safe.
They partially succeeded.
It was pretty clear to see that by the time the initial blast had wiped out a lot of armor plating — especially at the front — not much force was left to batter the flesh underneath.
The Unshakeable King certainly did not enjoy a relaxing hour in a sauna. His front torso remained intact, but it had been cut and bruised to hell. A few of his ribs may have been broken as well.
What was even more important was the burn damage.
Phase lords were highly resistant against fire due to the enhancements brought by phasewater.
The phasewater organs they chose to integrate also played a big role. The Unshakeable King definitely possessed a lesser Marigal organ, just like Ves, and likely integrated other phasewater organs that improved his physique.
All of this enabled phase lords to resist attacks from mechs and even warships with their physical bodies alone.
In fact, the Unshakeable King could have resisted incoming attacks a lot more effectively if they reached the full size of their true bodies.
Being restricted to their current height did the leader of the Ur-Titan Phalanx no favors. He remained small enough that the entire front side of his body became exposed to the blast as well as the lingering flames!
Though phase lord bodies were resistant to flames, it was still possible for their transphasic flesh to succumb to them. This was especially the case when the flames were fueled and empowered by fire energy!
The burns certainly looked bad on the surface. Entire portions of skin and flesh had become blackened into ash and coal. The less affected portions of the body also suffered varying degrees of burn damage.
The wounds on the face looked especially ugly. As well protected as his head had been, the Unshakeable King's helmet had also been blasted apart by the explosion despite his attempts to shield his head with his hammers.
While his weapons provided critical protection to the head, the sacrificial explosion hadn't been kind to them. The hammerheads had separated from their shafts, likely colliding into the helmet before getting flung away.
Whatever the case, even if the helmet had done their job to shield the Unshakeable King from the worst of the explosions, it offered little protection to what came next.
The lingering flames burned through the skin of his face, exposing blackened flesh, browned teeth and eyeballs that still bore a strong look of hatred.
Neither Ves nor the Dark Apostle could explain why the eyes remained intact. Perhaps he activated an emergency device or a failsafe phasewater organ that preserved his most essential body parts during a time of crasis.
The burns had done far more than melt off half of his face. His torso and limbs lost that aesthetic masculine quality that made him look handsome and heroic.
Now, all that was left was a monster that resembled a burn victim.
From the glaring eyes of his adversary, the Dark Apostle could easily tell that the explosion and subsequently burning had hurt his opponent, but had hardly taken him out of the action.
The phasewater organs buried inside his body remained unaffected for the most part. They may have been bruised due to suffering a powerful concussive blow, but they should still remain in working condition.
Several more seconds passed by in silence as everyone beheld the strategos defiantly clinging onto his life.
Slowly but surely, he began to move.
He moved slowly but without acknowledging the huge amount of pain generated by his many injuries. Since he had lost his weapons, he was able to use his blackened and burned hands to remove the remnants of his raiment.
They no longer offered complete protection aside from the rear, and even that had mostly become a hindrance due to losing all power and functionality.
They had become a burden to him at this point.
Even as he removed every single piece of artifice from his true body, he still glared straight at the Dark Apostle as if he only had murder in his eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, but could not convey any words.
The loss of his raiment deprived him from transmitting his voice, and the loss of his companion spirit deprived him from alternate means of communication.
His eyes grew increasingly more erratic. They shook and became more frenetic. His body, which had truly appeared unshakeable after the explosion, suddenly twitched and shook as if he was losing control over his own limbs.
Blinky looked surprised.
"What did you discover?"
"Remember the Minor Demon? He has not entirely died. Most of him disappeared with the Teragon Plasma Spear, but enough residual negative energies managed to get out and jump into the Unshakeable King to contaminate his spirituality. The opportunity was too good to resist. After I devoured his companion spirit, a temporary gap had formed. The remnant of the Minor Demon exploited this very obvious vulnerability and has seemingly merged with the phase lord."
"What does that mean for us?" The Dark Apostle asked.
"I am unclear, but my guess is that the Unshakeable King will become more violent and unpredictable. He is easier to rile up, but his aggression will fuel his final stance. It will not be easy for us to finish him off, but the deed has to be done. Do not let him raise his arms and admit surrender."
The time had come to finish this lengthy and difficult duel. The Dark Apostle had so far incurred little actual damage, but he reminded himself that this was just the first of four duels.
He unsheathed his Murder Knife.
As his second offensive D-arm, the Murder Knife looked exactly like how one would expect it to appear with such a name.
The power of darkness suffused the weapon. It had been stuffed with as many darkness hypers as Ves could fit in such a slender blade. This gave it an ominous aura that dimmed the space around it and enhanced the lethality of the blade in ways that no one could explain.
This was a knife designed to end lives, simple as that. It was a weapon of final resort that lacked the reach and heat of the Teragon Plasma Spear.
The D-arm was not made for throwing. Ves did not incorporate any of the adapted tech that could turn it into a powerful hand grenade. He instead utilized solutions that made it tougher and sharper so that it could do its sole job as best as possible.